Beef Buzz News
Cattlemen's Congress- The Mecca for Domestic and International Cattle Producers
Thu, 08 Sep 2022 09:58:01 CDT
Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is back with international consultant, PJ Budler, talking about hosting people from all around the world at the 2023 Cattlemen’s Congress.
With experience judging cattle shows around the world, Budler is using his knowledge of the international cattle industry to help Cattlemen’s Congress to come up with a game plan to host international cattle producers. Oklahoma City, Budler said, is a great hub to introduce international cattle producers to the best cattle production in the U.S.
“My philosophy on this is, you set up a program that has something for literally everyone in the cattle industry,” Budler said. “If someone doesn’t like open halter shows, you have an alternative and you have these breeding sales.”
If someone doesn’t like the show side of the industry, Budler said you can have large commercial female shows. Budler also mentioned his idea for a “bull sale boulevard” as many major U.S. bull sales take place in Oklahoma and surrounding states.
Budler said breeders can have displays at Cattlemen’s Congress so local and international cattlemen who are potential customers can meet with them and see what they have to offer, then come back at a later date to their sales.
“The other thing that we could look at, which has worked very well at shows like Houston and Farmfair International in Edmonton, Alberta is during the show to have an actual cattlemen’s congress where you deal with topics like genetics, herd management, nutrition, animal health, marketing, record keeping, forage management, human capital, and you have leading speakers from the leading U.S. companies addressing the public,” Budler said. “That is a huge opportunity for these companies themselves to get the main speakers in front of a really well-selected group of people in an audience.”
From the start, the concept of Cattlemen’s Congress has been that it is a cattle industry show put on by cattle producers for cattle producers. This concept can be valued not only domestically, but by the international community as well.
“A lot of the really well-produced shows around the world are in Europe, but what you find there is that it is almost like a display for people in the city to look at,” Budler said. “It is certainly not organized by them; it is not convenient for them and it is expensive for them. The events are really not production oriented; it is really just something to show the people in the city. They are immaculate events, but the reward for the attendees or consigners or the people showing the livestock there are very minimal.”
When you take a show like Cattlemen’s Congress that is organized by a group of producers, breeders, and thinkers who are immersed in the cattle industry, Budler said they know exactly what it takes to make a show successful for the exhibitor, and when it is successful for the exhibitor, the industry gets pulled into that as well and it becomes a showcase, especially for them.
“I really believe that having agriculture on display for the local public and the cities is very important, but you don’t need 10,000 head for them to see,” Budler said. “I think these kinds of events need to be by cattlemen, for cattlemen for them to be successful.”
Having a show like Cattlemen’s Congress, Budler said cuts all the bureaucracy and red tape around what it takes to attend one of those shows, and it encourages larger numbers.
“As soon as you over-urbanize these cattle events, it just becomes too expensive and too difficult for producers to attend these shows and to bring livestock and to bring help and all that,” Budler said. “It becomes a lose-lose because it becomes too expensive for them and it is not drawing your true cattlemen to it either, and that is where Cattlemen’s Congress is unique at the moment, globally, is that this is really just a cattle event and if you’re in the cattle industry, it is incredible, it is a mecca.”
To hear Ron and PJ’s full conversation and listen to their podcast, courtesy of Cattlemen’s Congress, click here.
To visit the Cattlemen's Congress website, click here.
Click the LISTEN BAR below to listen to Ron Hays and PJ Budler talking 2023 Cattlemen’s Congress welcoming all domestic and international producers.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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